considerations for containing employee turnover in kenyan hotelssamuel irungu kimungu (bsc him, cpa...

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Published by Urban Dialectics – an Inquiry & Design Colloquy JEPA Management Board:

Paul Mwangi Maringa (PhD), Architect/Planner – Associate Professor of Architecture & Planning, M.A.A.K, M.K.I.P; Francis Mwangi Mburu (PhD), Architect/Planner, M.A.A.K, M.K.I.P; Abraham Ndung’u (PhD), Sociologist/Planner.

Considerations for containing Employee Turnover in Kenyan Hotels

Samuel Irungu Kimungu (Bsc HIM, CPA II, Msc HM)1 Lecturer and Head Quality Assurance, Rwanda Tourism University College, P.O Box 5150, Kigali (Kicukiro – Sonatube) Rwanda, Tel: +250 0, E-mail:

[email protected], [email protected], www.rtuc.rw. &

Paul Mwangi Maringa (B.Arch Hons, M.A Planning, PhD, m.a.a.k, m.k.i.p, reg., Arch) 2 Architect/Planner –Associate Professor of Architecture & Planning, Technical Expert & Master Trainer (Construction & Building Servicing), Workforce Development Authority (WDA) P.O. Box

2707, Kigali, Rwanda, Tel: +250 788829576; E-mail: [email protected], [email protected],

Received on 15th of March 2010, revised on 20th December 2010, accepted on 22nd December 2010

Abstract

Hotel industry employees represent the biggest cost in an establishment. They are also, the first point of contact between an establishment and its customers. They need to be effectively managed. To be competitive, establishments must have a highly skilled, knowledgeable, and relatively stable labour force. Employee turnover works against coordination and organisational learning that is necessary for fast response and high quality service. Many hotel employers however accord little priority to the stabilisation of the labour force. This study then sought to empirically reveal coincidence of labour stabilisation and effective service delivery in hotels, in the local scene. It set out to first identify the salient factors of employee turnover. Thereafter, it ventured to outline the relationship of employee turnover as illustrated by its constituent factors with human resource management functionality. The study adopted a case study research design applied to 5 selected hotels in order to gain advantage from its intrinsic ability to incisively capture real life settings and detailed information. Five (5) sample hotels were selected purposively. Within each of these hotels, cluster random sampling was used to select 160 respondents. Descriptive and inferential statistics geared to the Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (r) and also the Chi-square measures were used to identify patterns in the data. The inquiry revealed that low job satisfaction, unfavourable working conditions and slow career advancement were major factors influencing employee turnover. High employee turnover rates negatively influenced human resource functionality, by lowering the quality of service, leading to reduced customer satisfaction, and a less competitive establishment. The majority of hotels lacked effective measures to curb employee turnover. Novel initiatives to discourage mid-career movements and ensure long-term employee-employer were tagged as an absolute necessity. Possible options here would include paying new workers compensations that are less than the value of their marginal product, and old hands greater ones than their marginal product. Keywords: Employee turnover, Human Resource Management, Service, Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction, Motivation, Hygiene, Hotels

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1.0 Introduction

Hotels fall into the service industry category, which is labour intensive in nature (Daft 1992). The human resource in hotels then is the largest and very important investment on recurrent expenditure. Hotel buildings, the spaces they embrace and their décor together represent a pleasant though largely mute ambience. Hotel workers are the sole interactive contact points for customers. For this reason they are the critical counterpoint upon which customer perceptions of hotels are hinged upon. Customer satisfaction and the overall competitiveness of hotels will depend a lot on the performance of this labour.

Effective management of human resources or labour in hotels is therefore vital to the success of these establishments. Hotels tend to require low level skills of labour which is also very easily transferable between employers, with minimal retraining. These and possibly unsympathetic managerial attitudes and beliefs have resulted in an endemic high worker turnover in most hotel establishments (Winstanley and Woodall 1995; Torrington and Hall 1995). Some managers are persuaded that no

turnover at all is undesirable as it would build a large stock of employees at the top of their income bracket, no matter the experience they contribute. These managers opine that new blood when injected into an organisation introduces novel ideas, methods, abilities, and attitudes, useful for the sustained dynamism of a hotel that operates in a first changing and competitive business environment (Torrington and Hall, 1995).

Most management therefore prefers the ‘poacher’ approach to staffing, as opposed to the ‘game-keeper’ alternative that builds both short-term and long-term nurturing, socialising, training and a ‘golden cage’ of benefits and incentives. The ‘poacher’ approach managers then expend their energies luring trained staff from flagging or unwary competitors (Winstanley and Woodall 1995).

Other organizations such as the McDonalds put a fixed percentage beyond which labour costs should not exceed, at which point staff are re-trenched and re-hired back when needed, no matter that these proportions in income may be caused by flagging sales of foods or rooms that would need to be adjusted, rather than increased non-performance

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It is generally held that employee turnover is well captured by the ratio of the number of employee separation to the number of employees on the payroll (Wendell 1994). This may further be distinguished into voluntary turnover or separation and involuntary turnover now termed termination or dismissal (Bavendam Research Incorporation 2000). Caution though is advised against swallowing this perception wholesale as the rate may hide aneamia in particular departments, while others remain intact. It would be useful then to go further and compare rates across the departments of a hotel (McKenna and Beech 1995).

A survey conducted by the Education Institute of the American Hotel and Motel Association in 1998 identified the principal reasons for involuntary labour turnover or termination as excess absenteeism, poor job performance, frequent tardiness, frequent guest complaints, and other issues such as theft or job abandonment. In such cases the industry gains by culling bad workers who are a liability.

Separation or voluntary turnover on its part was primarily occasioned by better pay elsewhere, better career advancement elsewhere, personal or

family reasons, inter-company transfers or promotions, and preferred job placement outside the industry. This form of turnover tends to loose competitive workers who have clear life goals, and ones who otherwise if retained could transfer this drive to the benefit of the establishments they leave (Kimungu 2006).

This study focuses on voluntary turnover or separation. The local hotel industry has tended to perceive labour turnover as naturally resulting from seasonal fluctuations in business, and failed therefore to lay premium on interventions that focus on the working environment and management policies that are internal to hotel establishments. The study hopes to shed light on the causes of employee turnover in Kenyan hotels, and its effects on human resource management functionality as it influences hotel performance and eventual competitiveness.

2.0 Problem Statement Competitive hotels do need a well trained, skilled, and knowledgeable labour force that is reasonably stable (David, 1997). Such employees are therefore able to support task coordination and organisational learning that retains and

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transmits the institutional memory as needed (Ibid; Kimungu 2006). Quality service and faster response to customer needs can only result.

Many hotels unfortunately give little priority to stabilizing their labour force, maintaining it preferably as a non-essential variable cost. Such an attitude naturally lays a low emphasis on labour incentives (Winstanley and Woodall 1995; Torrington and Hall 1995). In this context, Kenyan hotels then are confronted with the possibility of waning competitiveness and therefore a possible incremental loss of revenue. This appears to be a trend that is driven by a profile of deteriorating quality of service within the hotels, as these hotels reflect a work force that progressively is untrained and unskilled. The prevailing high worker turnover seems to have a hand in this waning level of skills, goaded on by a management that is insensitive or completely ignorant of the connection between worker attitudes and royalty. These relationships still need to be cemented well into a fully tested and accepted theory that satisfactorily explains the observed trends. The theories that advance a critical link

between motivation and hygiene, and therefore satisfaction and dissatisfaction in the work place as the fundamental factors of worker retention therefore need more probing and especially so in the local markets where there is no evidence so far of their testing. It is important to also develop a clear understanding of the manner in which these factors of worker retention are sequenced.

3.0 Aims and Objectives This inquiry has elected to restrict its concerns to understanding the role of job stability as influenced by staff turnover in the hotel labour functionality and the desired sustained good performance of such establishments. As such it is guided by the following mutually reinforcing objectives: 1. To determine the factors of voluntary

staff turnover or separation in hotels. 2. To establish the elements of staff

satisfaction and dissatisfaction in hotels. 3. To confirm the relationship of job

stability to satisfaction & dissatisfaction in hotels.

Correspondingly, the following relational scientific null and alternate research hypotheses are set forth in order to guide this inquiry:

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H0: There is no relationship between voluntary employee separation and staff satisfaction, or dissatisfaction in hotels.

H1: There is a relationship between voluntary

employee separation and staff satisfaction, or dissatisfaction in hotels.

4.0 Theoretical and Conceptual Framework Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene Theory, and Lashely’s Vicious Cycle of Employee Turnover are blended together to provide a basis upon which the inquiry is founded, and conducted (Kimungu 2006). Their combined postulations serve to inform thought during analysis, and when drawing out inferences on the research findings. Motivation-Hygiene Theory essentially underscores the seminal dependence of job satisfaction on worker motivation. It is founded upon factors that produce either satisfaction or dissatisfaction at work (Buchanan and Huczynski 1997). In this theory, Frederick Herzberg differentiates dissatisfaction with satisfaction in the work place as not being simple opposites and therefore not depending on the same sets of elements. The one dissatisfaction is a response to

badly disposed hygiene factors, while the other, satisfaction arises out of well applied motivators (Ibid; Kimungu 2006).

Hygiene factors then when well disposed remove dissatisfaction, leaving the worker potentially responsive to motivation. In this manner dissatisfaction when obviated acts as a precursor for satisfaction. It is thereafter necessary to prod labour further towards a state of satisfaction using identified motivators such as achievement, recognition, responsibility, advancement, growth and the nature of work itself. These it can be seen are by and large intrinsic to the job (Ibid; Kimungu 2006). These motivators as even Herzberg postures are factors that are intrinsic to the content of the job itself. They are the ones which very often attract workers to other establishment where present competitively, or retain them when present favourably in the present establishment (Ibid; Kimungu 2006). Hygiene factors on their part tend to be external to the work. They are non-job related, and embrace such concerns as company policy, administration, supervision, inter-personal relations, remuneration, and working conditions. In a practical setting, Hygiene and

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motivation factors act very much in concert (Figure 4.0a). Motivation arising from recognition and advancement for

instance would be inseparable with the hygiene consideration of feelings and attitudes on pay (Ibid; Kimungu 2006).

Figure 4.0a: An adapted Hygiene-Motivation Framework; Source: David 1997

These factors then play on the sequence of an individual worker’s needs, goals, drive, effort, and performance to produce stability or undermine it. Dissatisfied labour that is also lacking satisfaction is inclined to vote with their feet and leave the organization. This is when Lashley’s Vicious Cycle of Employee Turnover Theory kicks in (figure 4.0b).

When employee turnover rates are perceptibly high, workers will come in and leave immediately. Such a setting holds when the human resource plan that is common to stable, well organised establishments is thwarted by high labour turnovers. Such a plan commonly prescribes the positions and likely replacements should the current office

Modest Labour Turnover

Motivation

No Job Dissatisfaction

Job Satisfaction

Positive Hygiene Factors

Labour Retention

Organisational Stability

Reticent performance

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holders leave. The plan can only hold when the labour establishment is not very mobile; when replacements are

stable to the extent of avoiding hurried out-sourcing of yet other possibly untrained replacements.

Figure 4.0b: An Adapted Lashley’s Vicious Cycle of Employee Turnover Framework; Source: Lashley, 2000 The converse scenario results in hurried recruitment and selection, poor induction, limited training, supervisory and management pressure to perform, and low staff morale. The setting has inherent instability and will in all likelihood precipitate further labour movement. When this movement is

sustained over a conspicuous period, the organization ends up with poor quality labour force, while additionally incurring high human resource costs. Poor services follow, leading to customer dissatisfaction and an eventual loss of competitiveness (Figure 4.0c).

High Employee Turnover

Supervision Pressure

Low morale, Instability

Crises selection Procedure

Hasty Training Management Pressure

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Figure 4.0c: Conceptual Framework of Job Stability and Labour Functionality (that adapts and extends the Hygiene-Motivation Theory); Source: Authors, 2009

SERVICE

DELIVERY

QUALITY OF SERVICES

RESPONSE RATE

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

COMPETITIVENESS

GAME KEEPER APPROACH: Short and long term improvement of available

Labour

KNOWLEDGE: From prevailing technological support services training

SKILLS AND ABILITY: From prevailing technological support services training

TASKS COORDINATION: Anchored on performance that is founded upon inherent

Individual need & goals, Drive, Effort

ORGANISATIONAL LEARNING: Anchored on performance that is founded upon inherent

Individual need & goals, Drive, Effort

MOTIVATORS: Achievement, Recognition, Work itself,

Responsibility, Advancement & Growth

HYGIENE: Company policy & administration, Supervision,

Interpersonal relations, Salary, Working Condition

JOB STABILITY/HIGH STAFF RETENTION/LOW STAFF

TURNOVER

LABOUR FUNCTIONALITY

COMPETITIVENESS

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David, 1997 introduces two other critical considerations of skills and knowledge, which complement motivation and hygiene in explaining worker satisfaction or dissatisfaction. These two then complete the loop of theory that informs this study. From this understanding of theory and the problem at hand, set out for investigation, the following conceptual framework was abstracted to guide thought. The hotel human resource is peculiar. It is unarguably a dominant feature in this industry as the industry is a service industry and therefore one that is clearly labour intensive (Daft 1992). Human resource in hotels is characterized by much of unskilled, non-transferable skills, which by and large are on low wages levels (Riley 1996) with an expected high turnover levels (Lashley 2000). Recognition and remedy of a looming crisis is undermined by a profile that prevails in the industry where labour issues are relegated to the office of Human Resource Managers, rather than senior management (Branham 2000). In the past, scholars have inadvertently tended to probe staff turnover without differentiation, erroneously taking either dissatisfaction or satisfaction as one

combined factor, and in this way offering at the best only an incomplete explanation (Wendell 1994). In context though, people psychology as defined in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs perspective which classifies these needs into a fundamental lower need category (food, shelter, and security), and a secondary higher need alternative (social and egoistic needs). People therefore work in pursuit of, or in order to satisfy physical, security, social, and egoistic needs (Strauss and Sayles, 1980). For such workers, job security is a fundamental need, superseding even the necessity for pay or advancement. Job satisfaction has as a result been ascribed to working conditions, direct remuneration and benefits, promotion opportunities, individual attitudes towards organizations, supervision the work itself, individual health, age, relationships with co-workers, relationship with managers, and self drive (Bagozzi 1980; Rue and Byars 1993; Branham 2000). Here again factors or dissatisfaction and satisfaction are both bundled together without discrimination. Some studies have distinguished dissatisfaction, recognizing social interaction both with fellow workers and

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management as a factor that produces dissatisfaction, which in turn takes expression through low production, absenteeism and resulting in a high turnover (Torrington and hall 1995). Social interaction with management is posited as depending on managerial attitudes and beliefs which mainly fail to recognise the need to motivate workers, and rather tends to prioritise profits and not worker performance as the principal basis for decision making on recruitment or worker retention (Torrington and hall 1995; Winstanley & Woodall; Blyton and Turnbull 1998; Quek 2000; Hersi 2002).

The need for a critical examination of labour turnover that recognises well the salient factors of dissatisfaction and satisfaction, and their attendant attributes is rife. It is only then that the industry is able to address its challenges of an unwelcome trend of worker attrition that consistently works to undermine performance in an industry that must be competitive to stay afloat. 5.0 Methodology The case study method with its penchant for capturing much detail in real-life settings was used (Kothari 1996; Mugenda & Mugenda 1999). Hotels in Kenya fall into three groupings, the

coastal, Nairobi, and Nature Reserves clusters. These three though are dominated by the high concentration of hotels in Nairobi and Mombasa cities. The two were therefore handpicked purposively as representing two opposing hotel settings (Emory & Cooper 1995; Kothari 1996; Mugenda & Mugenda 1999). Mombasa would help detect the seasonal nature of the tourism trade that is beach based, while Nairobi would balance this out with its preoccupation for corporate year-round clientele. This duality of choice helped to test the doubtable supposition that employee turnover is a product of seasonal variations in hotel product demand, acting as controls for one another in a typical research experiment (Miller 1991; Nachmias & Nachmias 1996). From these cities, two hotels in Nairobi, and three in Mombasa were once more judgmentally selected (Emory & Cooper 1995; Kothari 1996; Mugenda & Mugenda 1999). The choice favoured reputable hotels with time tested establishments or brand names that are likely to elicit more consistent patterns. From these five hotels, 160 (figures 5.0a & b) respondents were selected using complex random sampling that brought together

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first, a clustering of the population into groupings of homogeneous sets of sample units, followed by respondent selection from these units through simple random sampling (Emory & Cooper 1995; Kothari 1996; Shaughnessy& Zechmeister 1997; Mugenda & Mugenda 1999). The overall sample size of 160 allowed each of the 5 hotels chosen as case studies and the work processes under inquiry to approximate 30 respondents in as far as this was possible. The allocation of actual sample size per hotel and work process normatively followed the proportional allocation methodology

that gave premium to representativeness. This is consistent with the limits set in the probability theory to assure normality in the distribution of the data obtained (Gregory, 1978; Hayslett, 1983; Lapin, 1981; Kothari 1996; Mugenda & Mugenda 1999). The six functional centers of direct service delivery in hotels were chosen to be the homogenous sample units. Respondents were then selected proportionately from the following population (Emory & Cooper 1995; Kothari 1996; Shaughnessy& Zechmeister 1997; Mugenda & Mugenda 1999).

Table 5.0a: Summary of the study population

HOTELS Nairobi Hotels Mombasa Hotels

TOTAL

Ambassador Hotel (A)

Holiday Inn Hotel

(B)

Travelers Beach

Resort (C)

Bamburi Beach

Hotel (D)

Leopard Beach

Hotel (E) Food and Beverage Service 26 60 24 29 33 172

Food and Beverage Production

12 29 10 10 14 75

Front Office 8 18 8 8 12 54

Housekeeping 10 24 10 12 20 76

Control and Stores 7 16 7 8 10 48

Support 6 22 14 13 20 75

TOTAL 69 169 73 80 109 500

Source: Kimungu 2006

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The population for study from the five hotels selected then comprised 464 line staff and 36 heads of departments or functional centers. The line staff were critically important here because they were in direct contact with customers, and also represented the group most

vulnerable to labour turnover. Heads of departments who normally have a number of line staff under them were also involved in the study sample in order to assess the influence that certain aspect of their job such as responsibility, may have on employee turnover.

Table 5.0b: Summary of the study sample

HOTELS

Nairobi Hotels Mombasa Hotels TOTAL

Ambassador Hotel (A)

Holiday Inn Hotel

(B)

Travelers Beach

Resort (C)

Bamburi Beach

Hotel (D)

Leopard Beach

Hotel (E) Food and Beverage Service 8 18 8 9 11 54

Food and Beverage production 4 9 3 3 5 24 Front Office 3 6 3 3 4 19

Housekeeping 3 8 3 4 6 24

Control and Stores 2 5 2 3 3 15

Support 2 7 5 4 6 24

TOTAL 22 53 24 26 35 160

Source: Kimungu 2006 Interview schedules of the form of structured opinionnaires, all administered by well trained enumerators were used as opposed to questionnaires whose success rate is known to be very low. The challenge of erroneous questionnaire entries that arises when respondents are unclear with some questions was in this

way avoided (Miller 1991; Nachmias & Nachmias 1996). The interview schedules brought in credible information or data on socio-economic hotel employment profiles and general demography, promotions, training, employee mobility, job satisfaction and employee opinions on labour turnover.

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Two other hotels in Nairobi were selected for a pre-testing or pilot survey exercise. This assisted to upgrade the interview schedules into structured survey instruments. These two hotels and their employees were naturally excluded from the final sample of the study (Miller 1991; Emory and Cooper 1995; Nachmias & Nachmias 1996; Mugenda & Mugenda 1999). Data was assembled interpretively into tables and pie charts. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used for analysis to favourable advantage, given its dexterity at statistical analysis.

Employee turnover levels were signaled through computed turnover rates, whereby the labour turnover rate was rendered as the total number of separated staff, expressed as a percentage of the total number of employees in a department, unit and /or hotel. Inferential statistics were resorted to, specifically the Karl Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation Coefficient, to coalesce trends and patterns, in a relationship between employee turnover (criterion/dependent variable) and job satisfaction (causal/independent variable) (Gregory1978; Lapin 1981; Hayslett 1983; Kothari 1996). Chi-Square analysis

helped put to rest the speculation on how if at all the seasonal nature of tourism trade affected employee turnover (Gregory1978; Lapin 1981; Hayslett 1983; Kothari 1996). 6.0 Analysis and Discussion The data collected was analysed in order to reveal patterns and trend within the following pertinent and interactive concepts of the study: Demographic description of the sample; labour distribution in departments; year of joining current employment; worker mobility; employee turnover rates; turnover factors; employee turnover and human resource functions; employee turnover and service quality; employee turnover and competitiveness. 6.1 Demographic Profile of the Sample The data indicated that in all the five hotels sampled, all the respondents (99.4%) apart from one (0.6%) in the Leopard Beach Hotel had at least secondary school education. The one exception had only primary school education. The data further indicated that 62 (56.9%) of the respondents had college level education. This is a clear indication that hotels prefer employing workers with reasonable formal education, who were more trainable, in

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order to possibly facilitate better subsequent on-job training. Interestingly, the data revealed that only 13 (11.9%) of the respondents had university education. This could very well denote that hotels in Kenya don’t see the need to hire highly educated manpower; a trend that may reverse with growing competition. A prerequisite to such a turnaround would be an increased induction of competitively appropriate practical skills and competencies relevant to hotel service delivery in graduate education.

In regard to the age bracket of the respondents, in the hotels that were located in Nairobi City (Ambassador and Holiday Inn Hotels), majority of the respondents were below 35 years of age. This was attributed to the dynamic nature and rapid changes in the hotel industry which calls for people who are adaptable to change. According to the manager of one of the Nairobi hotels, young people are better able to adjust to transformed realities. But for the Mombasa City based hotels (Travelers Beach Resort, Bamburi Beach Hotel, and Leopard Beach Hotel), a considerable 15 (13.8%) of the respondents were aged beyond 40years.

It was observed that in these hotels, staff rarely got a chance to go back to school once employed; for lack of proximally located training opportunities. This was very much unlike in the Nairobi City based hotels, whose workforce was able to attend evening classes in the city. Workers in the Mombasa City based hotels therefore tended to rely on years of service and on job training for promotion. In fact, the majority of the older respondents in Mombasa hotels were a conspicuous crop of less educated heads of departments.

On marital status, the data indicated that the Holiday Inn Hotel had 14 (12.8%) married respondents. This was double the number of the singles who were only 7 (6.4%). In hotel C, the majority of the respondents were married. Only one respondent in hotel the Travelers Beach Resort was single, but this was as a result of having contracted a divorce after a failed marriage. In general, the research indicated that majority of employees in Kenyan hotel industry are married. This is a curious shift from the general believe that many employees in the hotel industry shunned marriage.

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The study further revealed that the average monthly salary for the majority of the employees in the five hotels was Kshs 9,512 (136 US $). This amount is equivalent to the minimum wage per month according to government of Kenya 2003 wage guideline. Clearly, hotel industry employees in Kenya are lowly paid, confirming one of the hotel industry labour characteristics earlier reported by Riley (1996).

6.2 Labour Distribution in Hotel Departments The data pointed out that the food and beverage services had the highest

percentage (35.8%) of labour force, followed by the food and beverage production (16.5%), controls and stores (12.8%), support departments (12.8%), housekeeping (11.9%) and finally front office department with a low 10.9%. This was consistent with the fact that the food and beverage department is more labour intensive compared to others such as the front offices which are more easily automated using ICT. This observed labour distribution is summarized in Figure 6.2a here below.

Figure 6.2a: Percentage distribution of Labour in various Departments of Hotels

percentage distribution of labour in various departments

F&B servicesF&B productionFront officeHouse keepingControls and storesSupport

Source: Kimungu 2006

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6.3 Year of Joining Current Employment The study portrayed an interesting trend where the two Nairobi City based hotels had a majority of their workers employed in on or after 1994. Only one secretarial staff in hotel A was employed as early as 1980. The three Mombasa City based hotels had their respondents employed as early as 1975. This confirmed the pattern outlined in the preceding discussion on demography on level of education where it was indicated that the majority of employees in Mombasa City based hotels found little opportunity for further education or formal training,

and primarily depended on years of service and on-job training for promotion. 6.4 Worker Mobility The Study depicted that 79 (72.5%) of the respondents had worked elsewhere before (Table 6.4a). Further examination of the work history of these employees revealed that a majority of these had worked in other establishments within the hotel industry. There clearly was a reasonable flow of hotel employees that was primarily constrained within the hotel industry.

Table 6.4a: Worker Mobility

Category Frequency % Cumulative %

Yes 79 72.5 72.5 No 30 27.5 100.0

Total 109 100 Source: Kimungu 2006 6.5 Employee Turnover Rates The employee turnover rates calculated from the data were as follows: Hotel A had a turnover rate of 36.2%, hotel B 10.6%, hotel C 13.7% while hotel E had a rate of 22.0%. It was not possible to calculate the rate for hotel D due to lack

of sufficient information. The rates were calculated on the basis of figures given by the human resource managers. The data given by the human resource managers did not indicate monthly details and as such, a survival curve to give a picture of the new entrants and the

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ability of specific hotel establishments to retain staff could not be established.

6.6 Factors Influencing Employee Turnover To identify factors influencing employee turnover, the study sought to determine what made the respondents to leave their previous employment (push factors) and what attracted them to their current employment (pull factors). Table 6.6a here below illustrates the observed trends where 25 (22.9%) of the

respondents had left their previous employment due to lack of career advancement, while 15 (13.8%) had left due to unfavourable working conditions. Other factors that emerged included seasonal layoffs affecting 14 (12.8%) respondents, low pay a concern of 10 (9.2%) respondents, unacceptable employment benefits an issue to 8 (7.3%) respondents, and other factors singled out by 7 (6.4%) respondents.

Table 6.6a: Factors prompting staff to leave previous employer

Source: Kimungu 2006 Table 6.6b on its part demonstrates well that the 22 (20.2%) of the respondents were attracted to their current places of employment by suitable working conditions, 12 (11.0%) by good prospects of career advancement, 11 (10.1%) by attractive pay, 2 (1.8%) by acceptable employment benefits, and 52 (47.7%) by

other factors. Other factors with the highest percentage included staying near the family, challenge provided by the job, global presence, and desire to work in the industry.

From this data, it is evident that working conditions, which is a hygiene factor, and

Reason for leaving Frequency % Cumulative %

Pay 10 9.2 9.2 Employment benefit 8 7.3 16.5 Career advancement 25 22.9 39.4 Working conditions 15 13.8 53.2 Seasonal layoff 14 12.8 66.0 Other factors 7 6.4 72.4

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opportunity for career advancement which is a motivator feature as the major factors in leaving or joining an establishment. This confirms the argument that hygiene factors and motivators do not operate in isolation (Wendell, 1994). The data also agrees with Lashley (2000) that no one single factor can cause people to voluntarily leave an establishment. For people to leave the push and pull factors must mutually exist or operate in tandem.

The behaviour and attitude of both management and employees were found to play a role in employee turnover. When asked their view on movement from one establishment to another, 66 (60.6%) of the respondents indicated that it did indeed contribute to career advancement.

Majority of the respondents simply said “movement is everything in the hotel industry if you are to develop your career”. Actually many of the respondents had moved to higher ranks in their current employment by moving from other establishments where they were at lower ranks.

This agrees with Brush (2000) who had observed a similar scenario in Philippines where women attributed their low career attainment to lack of worker mobility between different employers. With such an attitude among employees, establishments will find it difficult to curb labour movement, unless clear career paths and pre-conditions that are objectively applied and facilitated are put in place.

Table 6.6b: Factors attracting staff to present employer

Reason for leaving Frequency % Cumulative %

Pay 11 10.1 10.1 Employment benefit 2 1.8 11.9 Career advancement 12 11.0 22.9 Working conditions 22 20.2 43.1

Other factors 52 47.7 90.8 Source: Kimungu 2006

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The study also found out that many managers in the Kenyan hotel industry viewed an employee’s experience as having worth when reflecting a diversity of other past employers. Thus many workers in Kenyan hotel industry tried as much as possible to work in several hotels to gain this ‘experience”. This concurs with Torrington and Hall (1995) who indicated that the management behavior and belief may encourage or discourage employee turnover.

Poor job review and lack of orientation also contributed to employee turnover. Table 6.6c renders well the scenario where 58 (53.2%) of the respondents who were the majority did not receive

any training after employment. Orientation is part of training, and if after-employment training was withheld, then orientation may be taken to have also by and large not been offered. Majority of the respondents did not receive orientation upon recruitment. Additionally, the study revealed that the majority of the establishments did their recruitments haphazardly using the walk-in application method. As such there were no job reviews done at the time of recruitment. From these observations, it can safely be inferred that, the majority of establishments in the Kenyan hotel industry are inadvertently or unwittingly “planting the seed of turnover at recruitment (Hodgetts, 1990).

Table 6.6c: Staff training after recruitment

HOTEL

TRAINING RECEIVED (ORIENTATION)

YES NO TOTAL FREQ % FREQ % FREQ %

A 10 9.2 23 21.1 33 30.3 B 14 12.8 3 2.8 17 15.6 C 6 5.5 10 9.2 16 14.8 D 1 0.9 6 5.5 7 6.4 E 13 11.9 16 14.8 29 26.6

TOTAL 44 40.4 58 53.2 102 93.6 Source: Kimungu 2006

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6.7 Job Satisfaction and Employee Turnover The study revealed that the experience and position one holds in an establishment influences the level of job satisfaction. Those who were experienced were also found to be satisfied with their job. When people are experienced, they tend to find their work enjoyable since they understand ‘every bit and piece’ about the job. This results in job satisfaction. The study further showed that the majority of the experienced employees were willing to leave their current employment given an opportunity. This could be an indication that, experience made the employees to be satisfied only with the work itself and not the total satisfaction as indicated by Herzberg’s motivation-hygiene theory. According to Herzberg, for an employee to be satisfied, the motivators (achievement, recognition, work itself, responsibility, and advancement and growth) must be present. In this case, the employees could be lacking advancement and growth opportunities, as opportunities for promotion tended to be limited in the hotel industry. Most hotels offered rather slim career paths. This clearly conflicted with the reality that as

workers gain experience, they expect to move to more challenging positions.

Other factors listed by respondents as contributing to job satisfaction included: the challenge provided by the job, conducive work environment, being allowed to work in ones area of interest, meeting basic needs, recognition and appreciation, good relationship with the seniors, job rotation, and availability of working materials. On the other hand, the respondents attributed job dissatisfaction to harsh working conditions, lack of/or biased promotions, delay in payments, lack of support from the seniors, lack of recognition, and highly centralised hotel administration.

Karl Pearson’s coefficient of correlation calculated to establish the relationship between job satisfaction and employee turnover (at the 5% level of significance), gave an r-value of = 0.349. This indicated a weak though still notable correlation between job satisfaction and employee turnover. This is evidence that job satisfaction plays a role in employee turnover but is not the only factor influencing turnover. Theory anchored the understanding that other factors (push and pull factors) also played a role in staff turnover (Luthans, 1998).

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6.8 Seasonal Nature of Tourism and Employee turnover In order to effectively assess the relationship between employee turnover and the seasonal nature of tourism in the hotel industry, the sample population was divided into two geographically determined groups. These were the Mombasa City and the Nairobi City based hotels groups. The Mombasa location is commonly perceived to come under the influence of the seasonality of tourism (July to April-high season; May and June –low season) since most hotels depend purely on leisure tourist as opposed to Nairobi where hotels rely considerably on corporate clients. A Chi-square analysis done at a 5% level of significance revealed that there was no relationship between the seasonal nature of tourism in the Kenyan hotel industry and employee turnover. This was consistent with expectations as the study focused on voluntary turnover, which does not include layoffs.

6.9 Human Resource Functions and Employee Turnover The study focused on three key aspects of human resource functions; these being: recruitment, training, and promotion. Hotels A and E recruited through walk-in applications. With this

method of recruitment, the employees may not feel obligated to retain their jobs. As they easily walked into the jobs, they would likely also walk out at will. This would lead to high recruitment cost and set in motion a vicious cycle, where there is always an employee being recruited and another leaving, as is aptly proffered by Secretan, 2001 and Lashley, 2000.

Such a state of affairs contributes negatively to the sustained organisation learning and coordination that is necessary for effective response and quality service. Hotel B mainly recruits through employee referral system. This involves the current employee recommending an appropriate person to take up the vacant position. They then go ahead and inform the person to be recruited. In doing so the hotel is able to create a sense of belonging among the employees, which in turn promotes job satisfaction.

The study further revealed that 70 (64.2%) of the respondents were formally trained and experienced at the time of recruitment. This was done in an effort to cut back on the training cost and to reduce the chances of low productivity during the early stages of

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employment. With this approach majority of the hotels tended to practice the ‘poacher’ kind of recruitment. Given that most of the hotels involved in the study were already experiencing Lashley’s vicious cycle, they did not feel obliged to train an employee who will be there for a short period. They preferred to ‘poach’ a trained employee from their competitors. This posture of the industry is likely to have far reaching effects on the quality of service delivered to guests considering the worker mobility that it promotes. In relation to promotion, the study revealed that 79 (72.5%) respondents who were employed and assigned to tactical positions were still in these same positions several months and years later. Only 9 (8.3%) had risen up the ladder to middle level positions. This could be indicative of the restrictive career path prevalent in the hotel industry. Further scrutiny of the data showed that there were a number of employees who came directly into middle level positions. This conformed to the general belief that evidently also permeated the Kenyan hotel industry that people who have worked else were perceived to be more experienced.

6.10 Relationship between Employee Turnover, Quality of Service and Competitiveness A total of 61 (56.0%) respondents agreed that employee turnover negatively influenced customer satisfaction. The respondents indicated that most customers normally preferred being served by the same person every time they visited an establishment. When an establishment engaged new workers, customer service was affected negatively. The new employees would need time to adopt to the new environment and in most cases, this slowed down service delivery. The trend concurred with the contentions of Greer 1990, who postulated that for an establishment to be competitive there must be a stable labour force.

7.0 Conclusions and Recommendations The study successfully determines the factors of voluntary turnover or separation in Kenyan hotels. It also establishes the elements of staff satisfaction and dissatisfaction in Kenyan hotels. The relationship of job stability to satisfaction and dissatisfaction in Kenyan hotels is also put clearly on display.

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Accordingly therefore, the study accepts the alternate hypothesis that: H1: There is a relationship between voluntary employee separation and staff satisfaction, or dissatisfaction in hotels. In place of the null hypothesis that: H0: There is no relationship between

voluntary employee separation and staff satisfaction, or dissatisfaction in hotels.

Unfavourable working conditions and slow career path featured as main factors contributing to employee turnover of the employee voluntary separation form studied here. The slow career path was further complicated by believes by management and employees that for one to gain experience they needed to work sequentially in several different establishments. This kind of attitude tended to accelerate the rate of voluntary employee turnover or separation in Kenyan hotel industry. Other factors found to contribute to employee turnover included poor job review and lack of orientation. The relationship between job stability and satisfaction complemented by no

dissatisfaction was confirmed to exist in the Industry. In order to stem endemic staff turnovers that resulted from lack of satisfaction resulting in low productivity, hotels need to provide workers with working conditions that demonstrate a concern for their welfare. Further, hotels to ensure clear career paths, with accelerated upward mobility for deserving staff. Management in hotels needs to commit themselves to in-house staff development or staff training where training is available while still on staff. Workers when newly recruited or re-deployed would need to be supported by sufficient briefing and orientation. Objective and manifestly transparent job performance reviews are advisable. This usually entails embracing performance contracting that is inclusive i.e., one where employees are consulted in drawing up such contracts and also in the process of review in a self-review input that is complemented by essential peer review. The critical factor of satisfaction that emerged in this study was that of career advancement (holistically and in respect

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to poor job reviews). An indirect feedback displayed the motivator of nature of work as underpinning satisfaction in the sense of depth of experience, challenge provided by the job, working environment, and area of interest. In complementation, remuneration (pay & benefits), working conditions, company policy (as reflected indirectly in the beliefs of management that perceived home grown experience as inferior to that obtained with multiple other employers), and administration (in respect of poor job reviews and lack of orientation) were singled out as being critical hygiene factors of dissatisfaction. The status of other pertinent hygiene factors that include company policy, administration, supervision, and inter personal relations was not delineated. Hotels also would effectively combat dissatisfaction if they provide competitive remuneration and allocated duties on an objective evaluation of a worker’s ability and competence. The latter would avoid confronting workers with unnecessary challenges that would otherwise result in frustration.

The identified motivators and hygiene factors left an over 50% burden of

explanation to other undifferentiated factors which can within reason be presumed to be those of achievement, recognition, responsibility, growth, and nature of work on the one hand of satisfaction; and administration, supervision, and inter personal relations on the other hand of dissatisfaction. These would all need to be addressed by management in a reform that entailed matching tight supervision with positive and spontaneous appreciation of performance that produces the sense of goal achievement for workers and diminished the perception in workers of a hostile management. The Karl Pearson’s coefficient of correlation calculated indicated a modest relationship between employee turnover and level of job satisfaction. The level of job satisfaction was found to be affected by such considerations as depth of experience, challenge provided by the job, working environment, and area of interest. No one factor on its own can cause voluntary employee turnover or separation. Both the push and pull factors must be in place for it to occur.

Considering human resource function as it related to voluntary employee turnover or separation, it was found that majority

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of hotels practiced the ‘poacher’ approach in recruitment. This approach contributed negatively to organisational learning and task coordination which is otherwise required for effective response and quality service. A majority of hotels preferred to recruit trained personnel in order to cut down on the cost of training and reduce the chances of low productivity during the early stages of employment. This perception draws in conflicts in the work place, in view of as indicated by most of the respondents, the preference by most customers to be served by same person every time they visited an establishment. The alternate ‘game-keeper’ approach that builds both short-term and long-term nurturing, socialising, training and a ‘golden cage’ of benefits and incentives should be accorded rightful consideration by the hotels and their management.

The seasonal nature of tourism was this study obviated as a vital factor of voluntary employee separation or turnover. It was appreciated rather that this factor could only apply to involuntary employee separation; in other words dismissals.

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